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Your San Angelo Criminal Defense Attorney
Tom Green County splits criminal jurisdiction by offense severity: District Court hears felony charges out of San Angelo, County Court at Law hears Class A and B misdemeanors, and Justice or Municipal Court handles a fine-only Class C. Whether a record can later be cleared, and which of Texas’s two very different processes actually applies, is covered further down this page. Getting that classification right matters early, since it determines everything from which court hears the case to how bail is set.
How Bail Actually Gets Set After an Arrest in San Angelo
Texas’s Damon Allen Act (Senate Bill 6, 2021) rewrote how bail gets set: a magistrate can no longer rely on a fixed bail schedule and instead has to individually weigh the nature of the offense, the defendant’s actual ability to pay, the safety of any victim, law enforcement, and the community, and the defendant’s criminal history, including any prior failures to appear. Texas Constitution Article I, Section 11 still guarantees a right to bail for virtually every offense except a capital one where the proof is evident, and a personal bond, meaning release without posting money subject to conditions, is evaluated under those same Damon Allen Act factors rather than a separate standard. Before any of this happens, Article 15.17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires a magistration hearing within 48 hours of arrest, the point where the charges are formally read, the right to counsel is explained, and a magistrate first sets bail conditions. Because Tom Green County’s population is under 250,000, the Fair Defense Act (Code of Criminal Procedure Article 1.051) gives the court 3 working days to appoint counsel for an indigent defendant after the request, not the tighter 1-day window that applies in Texas’s largest counties.
Penalties Under Texas Law: What a Conviction Actually Means
Not every criminal charge in Texas carries the same weight: Penal Code Chapter 12 separates misdemeanors (Class C, fine-only up to $500; Class B, up to 180 days and $2,000; Class A, up to a year and $4,000) from felonies (state jail felony at 180 days to 2 years; third-degree at 2 to 10 years; second-degree at 2 to 20 years; first-degree at 5 to 99 years or life), each with its own punishment range and up to a $10,000 fine at the felony level. A DWI charge in Texas escalates by prior offense count: a first offense is typically a Class B misdemeanor, a second is a Class A misdemeanor carrying a mandatory 30-day minimum, and a third is charged as a third-degree felony under Penal Code §49.09. Separate from all of that, a DWI arrest also triggers a civil, administrative consequence: under Transportation Code §724.041, a driver has only 15 days from notice to request a hearing on the license suspension, or the suspension takes effect automatically.
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Three of the Most Common Charges We See in Tom Green County
Not every assault charge in Texas carries the same weight: §22.01 grades a threat or offensive contact as a Class C misdemeanor and actual bodily injury as a Class A misdemeanor, while §22.02’s aggravated assault, meaning serious bodily injury or use of a deadly weapon, is a second-degree felony, or a first-degree felony when a deadly weapon and serious bodily injury combine in a family or dating-violence context. Theft under Penal Code §31.03 is graded entirely by dollar value: under $100 is a Class C misdemeanor, $100 to under $750 is Class B, and $750 to under $2,500 is Class A; above that, it becomes a felony, from a state jail felony ($2,500 to under $30,000) up through a first-degree felony at $300,000 or more. Texas grades drug possession by weight, not a flat charge: a Penalty Group 1 substance (§481.115), with cocaine and methamphetamine as common examples, is a state jail felony under 1 gram, escalating to a third-degree felony at 1 to under 4 grams and a second-degree felony at 4 to under 200 grams. Marijuana runs on its own separate scale under §481.121, starting at a Class B misdemeanor under 2 ounces.
Two Different Paths to Clearing a Record in Texas
An order of nondisclosure isn’t the same as expunction: under Government Code Chapter 411, Subchapter E-1, it seals a record from public and private access after successfully completing deferred adjudication, but law enforcement retains access; it doesn’t destroy the record the way expunction does. Government Code §411.072 makes the order automatic for certain qualifying offenses after a 180-day wait, while §411.0725 requires filing a petition for felonies and other misdemeanors §411.072 doesn’t cover.
Tom Green County's Courts and Jail
Tom Green County’s Detention Center sits on US Highway 277 in San Angelo, run by the Sheriff’s Office, while felony cases are heard at one of four District Courts (the 51st, 119th, 340th, and 391st) all located at the county courthouse downtown.
Closest service areas: criminal defense representation from Abilene.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s a personal bond, and is it available?
A personal bond releases a defendant without posting money, subject to conditions, and it’s evaluated under the same Damon Allen Act factors as any other bail decision.
Does county population really affect the appointment deadline?
The 3-working-day deadline applies because Tom Green County’s population is under 250,000 under CCP Art. 1.051; counties over that threshold get only 1 working day.
How much can a DWI actually cost in jail time?
A first DWI is typically a Class B misdemeanor (3 to 180 days) unless the BAC is 0.15 or higher (Class A, up to a year); a second offense is a Class A misdemeanor with a mandatory 30-day minimum; a third is a third-degree felony.
What turns a simple assault into aggravated assault?
Causing serious bodily injury or using or exhibiting a deadly weapon during the assault: either one moves the charge from Penal Code §22.01 to §22.02’s aggravated assault, a second-degree felony (or first-degree in certain family or dating-violence contexts).
Does a DWI arrest affect a driver’s license before the criminal case is decided?
Yes, under Transportation Code §724.041, a driver has only 15 days from notice to request an Administrative License Revocation hearing, a civil process that runs independently of the criminal case.
Is there a waiting period before petitioning for a nondisclosure order?
Yes, and it varies by offense: some misdemeanors qualify immediately after successfully completing deferred adjudication, while others (and most felonies) require a 2 or 5-year waiting period under Government Code Chapter 411 before the petition can be filed.
The Clock Is Already Running
The bail hearing, the counsel-appointment clock, and every deadline that follows in a San Angelo case doesn’t pause while someone decides how to respond; the sooner those decisions get real attention, the more options usually remain.
